Amazon Kindle 2 First Impressions

As an almost year-long original Kindle owner, I was excited about the launch of Amazon’s Kindle 2. I received mine on launch day (thank you, Amazon Prime!) and have spent some time trying out the new features and getting used to the tweaked user interface. Here are my initial thoughts about the changes:

- I really appreciate that the device still simply says “Amazon Kindle” instead of “Amazon Kindle 2″

- I LOVE the rounded corners. The sharp corners on the original Kindle were quite possibly the only item I had hoped Amazon would change. Reading for long periods of time holding the sharp corners in my palms was uncomfortable, to say the least. The new rounded corners are perfect for hours of reading.

- I like that the off switch has been transitioned into a sleep switch. The Kindle’s e-ink display only uses power when the screen changes. Therefore, there’s no significant difference between turning the device off and putting it to sleep.

- On the topic of switches, I miss the wireless on/off switch. While the new method of turning the wireless on and off (clicking the Menu button on the Home screen and choosing Turn Wireless Off or Turn Wireless On) isn’t more difficult than the old method, it’s not quite as intuitive as a simple switch.

- The page turning buttons have been altered to click inwards instead of outwards. This will prevent the accidental page turns many Kindle users complained about with the original device. I never had any problems with it myself, but I can see how some might really enjoy this small, but useful, change.

- The Kindle 2 has an aluminum back plate instead of the rubberized back of the original. At the moment I’m indifferent on the change. When I first got the Kindle, I was happy about not having a metal back because I often read while waiting at an outdoor train station (in Massachusetts…in winter), and didn’t want the device to make my hands cold. However, since the Kindle’s pages can be turned while keeping my mittens on, this hasn’t been a problem so far.

- Improved dictionary usage: I’m really enjoying the auto-lookup feature that has been added. If you use the five-way control stick to navigate to a word, the dictionary automatically displays the definition at the bottom of the screen, without you having to make any additional clicks or navigate away from the text.

- The new five-way control button is a lot more intuitive than I had expected. For example, when reading the Amazon Daily blog (or any magazine or newspaper with articles), you can click the bar right to go to the next article. This is a small, yet very appreciated, improvement over the previous method of navigating to the “Next Article” link and clicking it. The movement of clicking the bar to the right felt natural and instinctual after a few articles.

- Progress bar: Another new feature that I love. While the small dots at the bottom of a book gave readers a good visual reference for how far along in a book they were, the new percentage display is much better. Rather than guessing that I’m about halfway through a novel, I can see that I’m exactly 47% through.

I’ll have a more thorough review and Kindle 1/Kindle 2 comparison soon, but wanted to share my initial thoughts after 24 hours of playing with the device.